Is a Butterfly Super ALC more controllable than an ALC blade?

[FrenchFrog33]

Is a Butterfly Super ALC more controllable than an ALC blade?
Super ALC slower than ALC?

 

[h3llary]

Is a Butterfly Super ALC more controllable than an ALC blade?
Super ALC slower than ALC?

Super alc is faster than alc, less control, the trajectory is longer and flatter, feeling is more numb

 

[Robin0910]

The exact opposite actually. ALC is more controllable than SALC

 

[TensorBackhand]

Is a Butterfly Super ALC more controllable than an ALC blade?
Super ALC slower than ALC?

I don't think you should expect a big difference. I have a TB ALC, and Super Viscaria. I really can't tell much difference

 

[ThePongCommenter]

I don't think you should expect a big difference. I have a TB ALC, and Super Viscaria. I really can't tell much difference

I can...there definitely seems to be a longer trajectory and a bit of a stiffer or harder feel for SALC vs ALC.

 

[Deep74]

I have recently bought fzd Super Alc and had 3 training sessions with it interchanging with FZD ALC which I have been using for 2 years. I share the same opinion with others on this thread, speed is faster and more direct and lands deeper on table than alc does with same shot. It has less dwell and less control. Only aspect I like is the speed and deeper trajectory, other than that I find open up better with alc due to dwell and even blocking I prefer alc. super is direct and faster with blocking but with alc u get that absorption of incoming balls and a sense of control and being able to put it on with more accuracy.

Super alc does have a harder feel which I do t have issue with on fh. Margin for error is less with Super. I use h3N blue sponge prov 39 degrees on fh and D05 on bh. I do like the slighter harder feel on fh and deeper landing so I have a 40d in prep which I will paste and try on fzd alc and hopefully that gives me similar result on alc without sacrificing the other aspects I like about alc.

So far as much I have wanted to like super alc I just don’t.

 

[longle]

how can a blade be faster and more controllable at the same time

 

[Amayzde]

I have had a good ammount of hits with a Viscaria Super ALC (VSALC) and I have used a Timo Boll Spirit (TBS, N serial number = 2013) for some time so that what Im using as a comparison.

SALC seems more elastic but stiffer.

So it feels softer then ALC, but the ball is faster and the trajectory is low and direct. It was actually quite pleasant to use because I felt like I could get very high quality shots with very low effort. The spin produced felt even greater then with my Timo Boll ZLF (TBZLF) with the same rubber (G-1). Even though my TBZLF has MAX thickness and the VSALC had 2.0.

If I had to descibe the difference between my (old) TBS and the VSALC I would say that the TBS has more of a 30-80% range in terms of speed and spin. The VSALS is rather 50-100%.

So you get a higher quality ball with the VSALC for the same effort, but you need some extra caution to play passive and slower attacks. While with the TBS you might need a bit more effort to get that same quality, but you dont have to be as delicate that you will miss and makes it also easier to do last second direction changes.

 

[Amayzde]

And to answer your question wheather SALC is more controllable then ALC, my answer is: it depends.

If someone has a worse technique but good touch, the less effort needed with the VSALC can feel like they have more control. Because they can focus more on the game rather then having to put their attention to hit the ball correctly with body and everything.

Someone that has good technique but not as great touch will prefer the slower and more stable blade (ALC).

Mind you that a VSALC can work as a ‘quickfix’ for a players poor technique in that sence, but you will probably be more limited when progressing and start to get stronger opponents.

 

[FZD999]

The word "control" is tough to define. What exactly does it mean?

Slower automatically means more control?
Faster automatically means less control?

 

[Julzig]

The word "control" is tough to define. What exactly does it mean?

Slower automatically means more control?
Faster automatically means less control?

My idea of control is, if your rubbers/blade do exactly what you expect. Therefore control is always subjective, and can be skill determined. A worse player probably thinks a blade that is very spin insensitive, and not to fast, where every ball goes onto the other side by itself to be controlable. Better players might think a grippy and maybe even fast setup is more controlable, since he understand spin, has proper technique and can be more precise that way.

It really is different for every player and how you think of the way your bat should handle. The only factor that I can really count as control besides personal feel, is consistensy of rebound and spread.

 

[Der_Echte]

Yes, ANY of the BTY Super blah blah blah blades have more control... over your ability to buy anything else after buying the blade.

 

[NextLevel]

So maybe I am the only one with a very slightly different opinion but so be it. The Super ALC has a longer trajectory than ALC but it feels like ALC, sometimes it even gives me more feeling than ALC. I think the main goal was achieved - to develop a slightly faster blade that feels like you are playing with the original, so if you spin harder, it will feel the same even though the shot is faster.

There are two kinds of people I can think of who will like Super ALC over ALC - the first is people who win with speed/spin but want to do it with shorter technique vs what they currently do, including possibly older players or major fans of Dignics 09c. The other is people who just want a faster version of what they already play with and are willing to lose some all round play to get it.

 

[cytivrat]

Short story long I used to play with Timo Boll Spirit for the most of my table tennis life. And I really liked it, but when it mostly died, I bought TB ALC as a substitution. It felt harder and maybe somewhat faster, I lost some feel, but I thought that it is due to long period without playing table tennis. And everything was good, until I decided to try Tibhar K3. It was good, but I felt that I lack some speed so I got heavier TB ALC. It was better and I thought that I settled with equipment changes. But after playing for ~2 years, I realized that I had just two modes in my gameplay: some slow shots (like short pushes) or all out of attack - shots for 90-100% of my power, which were still not that powerful as I used to have before. And while I'm getting older and not devoting too many time to tt, my shape is not good enough to play tournaments with 90-100% of my power in every shot. So when I got an opportunity to try Viscaria SALC, I went for it.

So my impressions are: Viscaria SALC is faster than TB ALC, has flatter trajectory (as other people stated),
but also engages hard sponge easier, probably this results in Viscaria SALC feels softer than TB ALC for me, very close to what I used to have with TB Spirit (but not with hybrid rubbers) and it works on a whole range of efforts, I'm no longer limited with 90-100% range of my power, I can choose amount of power I want to use, not my racket. Finally, I got some gears. Softer feel + ability to select my efforts gives me feeling that I have more control than I had with TB ALC and much better feel. Yes, probably rubbers also influence this impression a lot. And if I still played with MX-P, my impressions could be opposite. Besides flatter trajectory, I had problems adjusting to full power shots, it feels like Viscaria SALC has some kick when I go full power, but since after playing ~6month I don't feel it anymore, probably I adjusted to it.
Answering original question: yes, there are situations when Super ALC is more controllable than ALC, at least in my case.

 

[BobFL]

how can a blade be faster and more controllable at the same time

It is possible for Butterfly to finetune a blade to play like that. For example I feel that FZDSALC falls into that category.
On slow and mid balls it feels slower, super controllable, deader if you will (compared to FZD ALC), so easy do control balls around net. However, when you hit hard, the salc carbon kicks in and the ball literally explodes off the blade.